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Womens Health > Menstruation Forum > Dark brown spotting indicating a possible hormonal imbalance
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Q: Dark brown spotting indicating a possible hormonal imbalance
asked by: DoctorQuestion on September 21st, 2009
Instead of my normal period for the month of August, i spotted some very dark brown thick blood, not enough to be changing my pad. In this month of September the same thing is happening again, except i been spotting for 2 weeks already. Is this normal? Is this my regular period?
I stopped taking birth control about 6 months ago. i also took a pregnancy test about 2 weeks ago and it came out negative. Should i test again when i finish spotting?


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Dr. Goce Aleksovski , MD
replied on October 5th, 2009
Menstruation Answer A7439
Given the data you provided (thick dark brown spotting both the last month and now, but now lasting for two weeks), you might be experiencing dark brown spotting likely due to a hormonal imbalance. The color of menstrual flow might range from light pink, red, to dark brown which is usually because of older blood. All this color variations are considered normal.


However, the fact that you spot for two weeks likely indicates that there is a problem. This is not menorrhagia (prolonged heavy bleeding at regular intervals), but the causes might be similar. A hormonal imbalance is a condition in which the normal sex hormone production is altered. Sometimes a hormonal imbalance is only a consequence of another condition (ovarian conditions, for example) which needs more examination to detect.


You might want to visit a gynecologist for a physical examination, hormonal laboratory tests and/or ultrasound scan. Other conditions that might have caused the dark brown spotting include: cervical polyps and uterine fibroids. If a hormonal imbalance is detected, then the doctor might recommend hormone-containing pills, which would try to induce the normal hormone production pattern.




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